Customizing the homepage

The custom homepage is a customizable page that appears at your district’s custom domain (http://mydistrict.ed.voicethread.com). You’ll have one homepage for your entire district and one homepage per school. This is a place to display exemplary work, invite public participation in your VoiceThreads, or instruct your users in how to access their accounts.

Start by clicking on the “Custom Homepage” tab in the Manager, and then clicking the button that says “Edit Custom Homepage”. This will take you to the customization page.

Choosing a layout

The first time you access the homepage customization page, you’ll be prompted to select a layout. See what elements are included with each option below.

Layout A

Title for the page

Main featured VoiceThread

Space to enter text

Homepage Group (collection of VoiceThreads)

Layout B

Title for the page

Space to upload an image/logo

Space to enter text

Homepage Group (collection of VoiceThreads)

Layout C

Title for the page

Main featured VoiceThread

Homepage Group (collection of VoiceThreads)

Choosing a style

There are three pre-designed style choices: Grass Green, Blue Lagoon, or VT Style. In addition, you can select the Custom Color Scheme, which allows you to choose your own background and font colors for each element of your homepage. For example, you might choose colors to mirror those of your school, institution, or organization website.

Customizing content

After you’ve chosen a layout and style, you’ll be able to customize the content on the page. At the top of the page, you’ll see a description of each element on the homepage and a key displaying where it is placed on the layout you’ve chosen. You can also see whether or not your homepage is active, which layout and style you’ve selected, and what your homepage link is. Click “change” to change any of these items.

Enter your customized content into the fields on this page. You can select which VoiceThreads you’d like to feature, enter your customized text, upload your image, and title the page.

To display VoiceThreads in the Homepage Group, you’ll need to navigate to your MyVoice page instead of using the Manager. Your Homepage Group will appear on the left side of the page. Drag the VoiceThreads you’d like to display into this Group. Learn more here.

Finally, be sure to save your work before leaving this page. You can click the “Preview” button to see how your page will look prior to saving, but you must save your changes before leaving the page to keep you work. Changes will be visible immediately after you click “Save”.

Enabling/Disabling the homepage

There is a settings area next to the key at the top of the page. This area displays the status of your homepage. If it’s not enabled, you’ll need to click “Save” at the bottom of the page to save your customizations and enable it. If it’s already enabled, you can click “Disable” right in that settings panel to disable it. When the homepage is disabled, the standard voicethread.com homepage will be displayed at your custom domain.

Where to find your homepage link

Your homepage link is your custom domain (http://yourdistrict.ed.voicethread.com). If you’re not sure what this is, check the settings area next to the key at the top of the page. Your custom domain is displayed in the “Homepage Link” category.